On 15 Apr 2006, at 03:14, Keith Addison wrote:
> > Okay, let's take this recent chunk then, from Peter Solem: > >> Today on the University of California, Santa Cruz campus, an >> organized group of student protestors succeded in shutting down the >> campus job fair until the military recruiters were forced to >> leave! [snip] > Please apply your thinking to this case. Was it useless? Was it just > a riot waiting for an excuse to happen? Was it all a waste of time > and effort anyway because it didn't make Page 1 in the NYT and FauxTV > didn't run a special? It did make coverage, at least on the net. If something is seen it can be a benefit. If it's not seen it can't. I've never said anything different. > > How many hundreds of similar incidents have happened worldwide this > week? I don't know. None? I hope more than that. > But it doesn't matter anyway because they didn't make Page 1 or > a FauxTV special either so they might as well not have happened for > all the good they did, right? No Keith, those are your words and your interpretation, not mine. > Do you agree with all that? You should do, it's what you've been > saying. Or will you say it's just an exception that proves the rule > or some such similarly specious nonsense? No, I think this is an excellent case that proves that if there is no violence or the threat of violence then nothing gets accomplished. To read the above account of what happened, you would think they were all sitting in a circle peacefully singing Kumbaya and We Will Overcome. Such is not the case. Take a look at the pictures on the net. Look at what was really happening. Look at the ANGRY protesters right in the face of the recruiter. Look at the signs saying Fuck You, yes those words exactly. Look at the other negative messages also. Look at the in- your-face actions of these angry people. People acting in an aggressive manner. I read a report that stones were thrown after the recruiters. Is this non-violent protest? Yes. It is. I'm sure this is just the way it happens many times. Please don't read anything that I've said to say that this is bad. It's not. Protest needs to happen. The recruiters were there to seduce young people to become cannon fodder for an illegal action brought on by a fascist US government. I just believe that there is what we are told, and then there is the way things really are. I don't believe the squeaky clean images of Ghandi, MLK or anyone else. We see the protests, we see the speeches, we don't see the back room discussions and deal making. > Meanwhile you're sitting there in your pontificator's armchair > suitably buttressed with cushions and comfortable assumptions and > telling yourself you're part of the solution not the problem eh? Keith, I really think you are trying to paint me a color I'm not. That comment was a bit mean spirited. Am I part of the problem? Yes, in ways I am. I still burn gasoline in my vehicle. I don't have PV on my house nor do I have wind power generators. I do vote and I try and make correct choices but what good does that do I sometimes wonder. A 12 hour work day is the norm for me, most times longer. My free time is taken up with projects that I'm doing with other companies. I live in a house that is a part of a row of houses and there is not much room for planting things though I'm trying to grow some food rather than all the herbs my wife and bro in law have got planted. I'm facing resistance. When I talk about getting a diesel for our next vehicle I meet with resistance. I'd like to build a nice rammed earth / mudbrick/ strawbale earthship house with PV and wind and everything be recyclable and have it be it's own little ecosystem and have a positive impact on the planet but I'm not there yet. I'm still earning my money for retirement and sending my kid to college. I'm doing it in an economy where the local currency is not very valuable. I'm planning for the future, I'm reading all the posts here and I'm gathering info from the website. I'll get there and have something good to pass onto my daughter or sell to someone else interested in being clean or cleaner. Took me all day to type this between patients. That's all I've got to say this time. Launch the missiles again. Gary _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
